3of6Houston Independent School District board president Rhonda Skillern-Jones speaks during the dedication of The Sacred Struggles / Vibrant Justice Mural along the Columbia Tap trail behind the Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, Monday, Nov. 5, 2018 in Houston. The mural pays tribute to eight of Houston's African American civil rights leaders.Photo: Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

4of6Houston Independent School District board meeting attendees turn their backs against the turstees and show frustration when trustees speak in favor to potentially seeking outside partners to run several long-struggling schools during a HISD meeting on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

5of6People show support to support agenda speakers who voice against Houston Independent School District potentially seeking outside partners to run several long-struggling schools during a HISD meeting on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

6of6Houston Independent School District board meeting attendees clap as the trustees voted 5-4 to not seek partnerships with private organizations at long-struggling schools, setting the stage for potential campus closures or a state takeover of HISD's school board if four underperforming campuses don't all meet state standard in 2019 on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Houston ISD’s Kashmere High School has failed to meet state academic standards for nine consecutive years, hindered in part by administrative turnover and a dearth of high-quality teachers.

State Rep. Harold Dutton Jr.is sick of it.

“There’s nothing wrong with the students there,” said Dutton, a Houston Democrat whose district includes Kashmere. “The problem here is the school board stepping up to its responsibility for improving these schools.”

Frustrated with HISD’s repeated failure to raise achievement at Kashmere and other chronically low-performing campuses, some Houston-area leaders Friday sounded notes of resignation that the district’s school board could soon be replaced by the state — a possibility exacerbated Thursday when trustees voted to not surrender control of any campuses to outside organizations.

When trusteed voted 5-4 on Thursday to reject any partnerships with outside organizations, HISD all-but-ensured its four longest-failing schools must all meet state academic standards in 2019 to stave off forced campus closures or, more likely, a state takeover of HISD’s school board. Those campuses still could show strong gains and hit the mark — four HISD schools in danger of triggering sanctions earlier this year all met state standard — but they would have to reverse years of low performance.

Trustees who opposed giving control of campuses to outside organizations argued the arrangements represented an unfair and undesired privatization of public schools. Board members who voted in favor of seeking partnerships said they wanted to consider all options available to the district. Thursday’s vote would not have obligated the board to any partnership agreement.

Barring a change to the sanctions law, litigation or a change of heart by the board of trustees — none of which are expected — HISD will learn in August whether the district will face state penalties for the four schools’ 2018-19 academic performance. HISD leaders could have staved off sanctions for two years by agreeing to temporarily surrender control of campuses in danger of triggering sanctions.

As HISD leaders pledged to march onward with current efforts to improve academic success at long-struggling campuses, some Houston-area civic leaders envisioned a future in which a state-appointed governing board took control of Texas’ largest school district. Under a state law authored by Dutton in 2015, the Texas Education Agency must close failing schools or replace the school board in any district with a single campus receiving five straight “improvement required” ratings. The four HISD campuses in danger of triggering sanctions this school year are Highland Heights Elementary School, Henry Middle School, and Kashmere and Wheatley high schools.

Some local officials, including Mayor Sylvester Turner, have expressed dismay at the idea of the state’s Republican-leaning government taking control of HISD, where all nine elected school board members are Democrats. School board members also have argued HISD does not need state takeover, pointing to successful efforts to reduce the number of “improvement required” schools and navigate significant budget cuts.

“While we have had bad board relations, we have managed to handle the two largest pieces of governance in a way that have not been detrimental to the district, but instead have had a positive impact,” HISD Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones said. “We’ve invested a lot of money in turning these schools around, a lot of resources, a lot of time. To allow those people to do the jobs they’re entrusted with is the best course of action.”

Dutton, however, said he is convinced HISD trustees — who have drawn intense criticism for failing to improve performance at low-rated schools and engaging in public displays of acrimony — no longer deserve the responsibility of governing Texas’ largest school district.

“I don’t have any evidence that (the state) would do better, but I do know that if we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll keep getting the same results,” Dutton said. “And for me, it’s unacceptable to do that.”

One of the Houston area’s longer-serving elected Republicans, Harris County Treasurer and two-time mayoral candidate Orlando Sanchez, also called Friday for state intervention in HISD. Sanchez implored state legislators and the Texas Education Agency to take responsibility for HISD, urging them to replace the district’s school board and devote more resources to low-performing campuses.

“I just can’t watch this slow-motion train wreck continue, so I’m going to speak out as a Republican and encourage my friends in Austin to give some serious attention to this matter,” Sanchez said. “We can’t wait, and that’s all we’ve done over the past several years.”

Turner’s administration sought to stave off a state takeover by forming a nonprofit with local civic-minded residents, who would have tried to gain control of up to 15 campuses. He offered a pro-forma coda to that possibility following Thursday’s vote.

“The city of Houston is strongest when we have strong schools,” Turner said in a statement. “For the benefit of all children, we wish HISD the very best in its efforts to remove the four schools that trigger (sanctions) out of (”improvement required”) status.”

For now, HISD administrators plan to continue the implementation of the district’s second-year campus turnaround effort, known as Achieve 180, at its four longest-struggling schools. Those campuses receive hundreds of thousands of dollars each in added resources, which pay for teacher bonuses, extra training sessions for educators and additional staff dedicated to students’ social and emotional well-being.

The initiative produced exemplary results at several chronically low-performing campuses last year, but the four schools in danger of triggering sanctions next year all failed to show significant progress in 2017-18. Under the state’s new accountability system, Kashmere scored a 49 and Wheatley posted a 52 this year, both in the bottom 1 percent of Texas schools. Highland Heights and Henry narrowly missed meeting standard. About 5 percent of Texas public schools do not meet state standards each year.

“I believe in what we’re doing around Achieve 180, and I’m going to stand behind the work of what we’re doing around Achieve 180,” Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said during Thursday’s board meeting. “I agree we still have issues around equity as it relates to school funding and things we need to do. We’ve started discussing that as a central office team.”

Jacob Carpenter joined the Houston Chronicle in June 2017 to cover K-12 education. Prior to arriving in Texas, he spent a year as an investigative reporting fellow for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He reported for the Naples (Fla.) Daily News from 2011 to 2016, covering criminal courts and long-term investigative projects. A native of suburban Detroit, he graduated from Michigan State University in 2010.